The Oligarch's Daughter

The Oligarch’s Daughter (2025) is a thriller by American author Joseph Finder. The novel is set against the backdrop of US-Russia tensions, which is a recurring theme in Finder’s works. Finder is interested in Soviet and Russian history and holds degrees in Russian studies from both Harvard and Yale. His first two novels, The Moscow Club (1991) and Extraordinary Powers (1994), examine the fraught geopolitical conflict that has long characterized the two countries’ relationship. Following the success of those works, Finder wrote a series of other popular novels that, although not about Russia, feature espionage, political intrigue, and high-level corruption.

The Oligarch’s Daughter follows protagonist Paul Brightman, whose life takes a dangerous turn after he marries a powerful oligarch’s daughter. After discovering his father-in-law’s ties to corruption and crime, Paul secretly agrees to cooperate with the FBI. He then goes into hiding under an assumed identity until he is discovered and forced to confront the oligarch once again. A fast-paced, action-packed novel, it explores The Destructive Interplay of Money, Corruption, and Power; Survival Against the Odds; and The Complex Nature of Family Loyalty.

This guide refers to the 2025 hardcover edition published by HarperCollins.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death, illness, and substance use.

Plot Summary

The novel begins with the protagonist Paul Brightman living in a small New England town under the assumed name of Grant Anderson. One day, he fills in for a friend who charters fishing trips, and the customer, a Russian man, tries to kill Paul. Paul overpowers the man and accidentally kills him; he then throws the body overboard. Paul suspects that Arkady Galkin, a Russian oligarch whom he worked for and then betrayed, has finally found him. For five years, Paul has been in hiding, using a false identity, but he always worried that this day could come. Paul’s suspicions are soon confirmed: One of Arkady’s men fatally shoots Paul’s friend, a local law enforcement officer, prompting Paul to go on the run. He flees first by vehicle and then on foot, hoping to lose the Russians in the large forest adjacent to his town.

A series of flashbacks reveal Paul’s past. Five years earlier, he meets a beautiful Russian photographer named Tatyana. She downplays her wealth, and the two fall deeply in love. Paul is shocked when he eventually discovers that her father is the famous oligarch Arkady Galkin. Paul and Tatyana get married, and Arkady welcomes Paul into the family, even giving him a job at his own investment firm when Paul’s old firm falls into financial difficulties. Paul’s friends warn him about the dangers of working for an oligarch, claiming that they are often corrupt and involved in crime, but Paul brushes off these comments. However, in time, he begins to notice suspicious activities at Arkady’s firm, including insider trading. Two colleagues who try to warn Paul about this end up dead under suspicious circumstances. When the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) approaches Paul as part of an investigation into Arkady’s finances, he agrees to act as a covert informant.

As part of his work for the FBI, Paul uncovers some puzzling information: Arkady’s business received initial investments from shadowy figures, and many of the files that Paul finds refer to a project called “Phantom.” These files, however, are encrypted, and Paul cannot read them. He continues to work with the FBI and is then introduced to Geraldine Dempsey, a high-level CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) officer who does not seem to trust him. She knows that he made copies of the encry

Just as Arkady and his chief enforcer, Andrei Berzin, begin to suspect Paul of spying, the FBI team that Paul is working with is brutally gunned down. Paul panics. Even Tatyana’s loyalties appear to have shifted to her father, and he has nowhere to turn. He had hoped to be placed into an official witness protection program, but with his FBI contacts dead, that is no longer an option. Paul ends up stealing the identity of a comatose patient—Grant Anderson—who is housed in the same long-term care facility as Paul’s beloved uncle Thomas. He took Paul in after his mother died of cancer and his father, a brilliant computer scientist, chose to leave society for an off-the-grid, isolationist life in the woods. Thomas also taught him how to build and repair boats, and under the “Grant Anderson” alias, Paul gets a job building boats in a small, seaside New England town.

Back in the present timeline, Berzin and his men continue to follow Paul through the forested area. Paul is even more worried when he discovers that he is also wanted by the FBI, though he has no idea why. He thinks that the answers might lie in the encrypted files that he found and still has on a flash drive. In the woods, Paul meets a group of isolationist anarchists who, like his father, have chosen to leave society. One of these men knows Paul’s estranged father, Stanley, and directs Paul to his location. With his father’s help, Paul decrypts the files and discovers that Phantom was a top-secret, black-ops program run by the CIA. It secretly recruited Russian oligarchs like Arkady to spy on the Russian government. Paul is shocked that Arkady and Berzin are both actually working for the US government. The FBI catches up with Paul and his father, however, and Stanley sacrifices himself to save his son’s life.

Paul reaches a sympathetic contact at the FBI and learns that Geraldine was in charge of Phantom. Through the program, the US government provided Arkady’s initial financial investments, and he and Berzin had been spying on the Kremlin for decades. In a final confrontation, Paul and the FBI work together to record Geraldine admitting to illegal covert activities. In the ensuing gunfight, both she and Arkady are killed.

Paul and Tatyana reconnect. After Arkady’s death, Tatyana loses her wealth and moves into Paul’s farmhouse, where the two lead a simple life.